After talking to many teachers, some of which have been teaching in Spain for many years, I realize many are not used to the CEFR.
Some veterans, those who have taught here in Madrid for more than 5 years, have always used the “Starter, Preliminary, Lower-Intermediate, Intermediate, Upper Intermediate and Advanced” levels.
Some are only used to the Cambridge Exam levels (Key, Pet, FCE, CAE and Proficiency). We will talk about the importance of the Cambridge syllabus for Spaniards another day.
And others, specially those who have recently done a TEFL course, are just used to the CEFR levels which are the standard lately in language teaching in Europe.
CEFR stands for Common European Framework of Reference for Languages and it describes a person’s language ability in 6 levels. These levels are A1, A2, B1,B2, C1 and C2 and, as they are standard in languages across Europe, it allows us to compare and understand qualifications internationally.
These are the levels and their explanation:
Level group | Level group name | Level | Level name | Description |
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A | Basic user | A1 | Breakthrough or beginner |
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A2 | Waystage or elementary |
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B | Independent user | B1 | Threshold or intermediate |
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B2 | Vantage or upper intermediate |
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C | Proficient user | C1 | Effective operational proficiency or advanced |
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C2 | Mastery or proficiency |
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A common question from teachers is: how do these CEFR levels relate to Cambridge exams?. Here is a chart which will help you compare these two frameworks. I have it at the entrance of our academy for easy access to all teachers and students.
In following articles we will describe some of these exams, and others students in Madrid might as you to prepare them for.